Ad campaign unveiled as another co-sleeping death is announced

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett (left) and Commissioner of Health Bevan Baker announce the city's goal for reducing the infant mortality rate to historic lows. The new ad campaign shows babies sleeping with a butcher knife in an effort to get the point across that co-sleeping is dangerous. Credit: Tom Lynn

The Journal Sentinel is taking on an issue we had too long ignored - the death of children before their first birthday. Infant mortality is a crisis not just of public health, but of ethics and morality. The rate at which infants die in our city is unacceptable. We are examining the problem and pointing to solutions.

Minutes before city officials unveiled a new safe-sleep advertising campaign Wednesday, the medical examiner's office announced that a 7-week-old baby was found dead on Milwaukee's south side after co-sleeping with his or her mother.

The infant, whose gender was not released, is at least the ninth Milwaukee baby to die this year while in an unsafe sleep environment. Details of the child's death will be released following an autopsy, a spokeswoman for the medical examiner said.

News of the death, which apparently had not yet been conveyed to Mayor Tom Barrett and Commissioner of Health Bevan Baker, underscored the urgency of the ad they unveiled during a morning news conference at the Southside Health Center, 1639 S. 23rd St.

The ad shows a baby sleeping in an adult bed with a butcher knife tucked beside him.

The tagline reads: "Your baby sleeping with you can be just as dangerous."

Barrett said that, when he first saw the preliminary ads designed by SERVE Marketing, he wondered whether they were "too provocative and too raw."

But the mayor said he shudders every time he receives a phone call about another co-sleeping infant death and considers the tragedy of what could be a preventable death.

"We as adults who love babies love the thought of a baby in bed," Barrett said.

"Cuddling a baby is very nurturing," he said.

But if it takes a raw message to get the point across that babies must sleep alone, on their backs, in their own cribs, the ad is not too shocking, the mayor said.

"Co-sleeping deaths are the most preventable form of infant death in this community," Barrett said.

"Is it shocking? Is it provocative?" asked Baker, the health commissioner.

"Yes. But what is even more shocking and provocative is that 30 developed and underdeveloped countries have better (infant death) rates than Milwaukee."

The Journal Sentinel has been reporting on the many facets of the city's infant mortality crisis this year in its Empty Cradles series.

Milwaukee's infant mortality rate in 2009 was 10.4 deaths for every 1,000 live births, according to the health department.

For white babies, it was 5.4. The rate for black babies was nearly three times as high: 14.1.

Also during the news conference, Barrett and Baker announced a goal - which the Journal Sentinel reported Wednesday - to reduce Milwaukee's infant mortality rate to a historic low by 2017.

The new city goal would reduce the city's black infant mortality rate by 15% and the city's overall rate by 10%.

The black rate would be 12 deaths for every 1,000 births. The overall rate would be 9.4.

The goal is based on the Milwaukee Health Department's analysis of 41 years of infant death statistics.

Barrett and Baker say focusing on the death rate for black infants will help the city reduce an unacceptable racial disparity.

They called on the entire community to join the effort, including health care systems, individual hospitals, doctors, the business community and community-based organizations. All have a vested interest in a healthy Milwaukee, they said.

The United Way of Greater Milwaukee earlier this year joined the city's campaign to reduce infant death rates. The partnership was kicked off with an initial grant of $200,000 to improve mother and child health in targeted ZIP codes with the worst birth outcomes: 53206, 53210, and 53216.

The money will fund a nurse and social worker who will make home visits in the targeted ZIP codes and address factors that contribute to infant mortality, including smoking, unsafe sleep practices and not breast-feeding.

Another citywide effort is the Lifecourse Initiative for Healthy Families.

That group is expected to soon announce its goal: Eliminating racial disparity in Milwaukee's infant death rate by 2020.

About Karen Herzog

Karen Herzog covers higher education. She also has covered public health and was part of a national award-winning team that took on Milwaukee's infant mortality crisis.